Gutter
GUTTER (Heb. tsinnôr, pipe, spout, conduit). The channel or tunnel (rsv, niv “water shaft”) through which David’s soldiers are inferred to have marched to win the city of Jerusalem from Jebusite rule (2Sam.5.8), at the fountain of Gihon, site of the later tunnel Hezekiah built (2Kgs.20.20) to connect the spring at Gihon with the pool of Siloam. It was 1,800 feet (563 m.) long and 6 feet (2 m.) high. It was dug out as a farsighted measure so that the city’s water supply would not be in danger during the impending siege at the hands of Sennacherib of Assyria.
GUTTER. 1. (צִנֹּ֔ור, pipe or water shaft; LXX παραξιφίς, dagger) RSV WATER SHAFT. The tunnel that David recommended to his soldiers as a way of entering Jerusalem to conquer it (2 Sam 5:8). It has been identified with “Warren’s Shaft” in the SE hill that leads from the spring Gihon to within the city wall and dates back to pre-Israelite times.
2. (רֳהָטִ֖ים; LXX ληνοι̂ς, watering trough) RSV RUNNEL. The trough from which the flocks of Laban drank and where Jacob placed peeled rods in his effort to control the markings on the newborn lambs (Gen 30:38, 41).
Bibliography
J. Simons, Jerusalem in the OT (1952), 168-175.